T.R.U.C.K.S.
T.R.U.C.K.S. was a New York City based Harold Team at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. They performed from September 12, 2006 to April 22, 2008. Cast * Original: Bob Acevedo, Jon Gutierrez, Bridie Harrington, Amber Petty, Nick Ross, Jim Santangeli, Ben Schwartz, and Nate Smith. *John Frusciante replaced Jim Santangeli (who moved to 1985) in January 2007. *Achilles Stamatelaky and Sarah Burns replaced Amber Petty (who moved to Creep) and Ben Schwartz who moved to Los Angeles to write for Robot Chicken in February 2007. *Bridie Harrington left the team to move to Portland in September 2007. Betsy Stover replaced her in October 2007. History T.R.U.C.K.S. were known for their abstract, high energy, and extremely physical and supportive style of play. This often led to the team making risky, form-based moves. They also often played animals and non-human creatures, primarily due to having Nick Ross, a gifted physical performer, on their team. T.R.U.C.K.S. also never shied away from doing "meta" Harolds; this was probably due to the supportive nature of their team. Their physicality and support work would sometimes get in the way of their shows, however, leading to strange and abstract scenes with no justification. During rehearsals, T.R.U.C.K.S. would almost exclusively create their own warm-ups. They created "What's That Scat?" and "Non-Sequitir Showdown," among others. Before shows, instead of doing traditional warm-ups, they would have a 20-minute freestyle rap circle. The team was officially disbanded in April 2008, but was essentially 6/8ths of a team even before that -- Sarah Burns had moved to Los Angeles indefinitely for a movie role and Nick Ross moved back to Colorado to begin cancer treatments. Team members moved on to The Fucking Kennedys, The Scam, and Whorenado. Memorable Shows * The "All Dude" show where Sarah Burns was out of town. The suggestion was "Where are all the ladies at?" * The "Apollo" show: the Harold was structured like an episode of "Late Night at The Apollo." Every scene started with the performers rubbing the projector for luck and the audience chose a "winner" at the end. http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/showthread.php?p=664717#post664717 * Their 20-minute Harry Potter-themed show in the fifth slot. * Their apocalypse-themed CageMatch. Quotes About T.R.U.C.K.S. * Brandon Gardner: "And I could write this on every Harold Night thread but I really love watching Trucks and seeing how they make interesting/risky moves that are great because everyone's so quick to support them. Even if it sounds like there were scenes that the group didn't think they did as well as they could in, watching I was never worried that they wouldn't be able to help each other out of anything and make it work." http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/showthread.php?t=55429 * Benjamin Apple: "I have to say that Nick Ross's cow impression Tuesday night was the most captivating non-human character work I've ever seen." http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/showthread.php?t=56104 * Will Storie: "One of the marks of a great improv group is when they have their own voice. Like an author or a director, even if you don't know what'll happen in the story, you know that they'll bring their really rich, distinct style to it. TRUCKS has one of the most adventurous, unique voices out there. Whenever they perform, it's an event." http://www.improvresourcecenter.com/mb/showthread.php?p=696026#post696026 Coaches Past coaches included Jackie Clarke, Charlie Sanders, and Ari Voukydis. Music * Intro: "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, and Nate Dogg * Outro: "Radio Radio" by Elvis Costello and the Attractions Trivia * Their starter name was Earth. * The name T.R.U.C.K.S. was originally not an acronym for anything. The full team name was "T.R.U.C.K.S.: The United Workers of Rocktopia." Eventually, Nate Smith came up with a suitable acronym for the name -- The Rocktopia United Comedy Kids Society. Category:Improv Groups Category:New York City Category:UCB-NY Harold Teams